Dermatologists and psychiatrists occasionally encounter patients who believe they are infested with skin parasites. They may report seeing
threads, fibers and more solid appearing particles attached to their skin and hair, or appearing on clean bed sheets after sleeping. Some of the
particles move spontaneously suggesting a life form. Similar structures develop in long-term cultures of stealth-adapted viruses. They are
termed alternative cellular energy pigments (ACE pigments) since they appear to provide a non-mitochondria source of cellular energy that
can assist in cellular repair from the virus cytopathic effect (CPE). Particles obtained from the skin of stealth virus culture-positive patients
can also display auto-fluorescence and electrostatic properties. Some of the particles are magnetic and can generate gas in an aqueous
solution. They also lead to the production of lipid-like crystals similar to those produced in long-term cultures of stealth-adapted viruses. It is
proposed that skin-derived particles that form in some of the patients assumed to be experiencing a delusional parasitosis are, in reality, a
reflection of the body’s production of ACE pigments.

Introduction
Over the last several years, I have encountered several
patients who have described unusual solid and thread-like
particles arising from their skin and which occasionally
appeared to move spontaneously, as if alive. The patients
were concerned that they may be infected with some form of
skin parasite. Other patients have noted unusual particles in
their bed sheets, and in bath water that has been undisturbed
for several hours following bathing. One patient who slept on
a magnetic mattress noted that some of the particles were
attaching to the mattress as if they were magnetic. Several of
these patients were also being seen by psychiatrists and were
given a clinical diagnosis of delusional parasitosis (Bhatia et
al. 2000; Goddard, 1995; Zomer et al., 1998).
The particles collected by these patients were morphologically
similar to structures that form in long-term